1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus for executing a predetermined image processing on image information obtained, for example, by radiography, and storing the processed information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Radiography for medical diagnosis generally utilizes a film screen system which is constructed by combining an intensifying screen with an X-ray film. According to this system, an X-ray transmitted through a subject, i.e., an X-ray including information about the subject is converted into visible light proportional to the intensity of the X-ray, by means of the intensifying screen, and the X-ray film (referred to as a xe2x80x9cfilmxe2x80x9d, hereinlater) is exposed to the light, thereby forming an X-ray image of the subject on the film.
Recently, an X-ray digital photographing apparatus has also been utilized. According to this X-ray digital photographing apparatus, an X-ray is converted into visible light proportional to the intensity of the X-ray by means of a fluorescent material, converted into an electric signal by use of a plane sensor comprising a plurality of pixels, and converted into a digital signal by an A/D (analog/digital) converter.
When the radiography is performed on a plurality of examinees in a mass examination service that uses the film screen system, characters indicative of an ID and the name of an examinee are printed on the upper right of the film, etc. Alternatively, a unique number for the examinee is printed on the film. Therefore, an engineer records the ID and name on the film or the unique number and examinee name onto an irradiation record, thereby identifying the film with the examinee. This method is disclosed as conventional art in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei-8 160557, for example.
In the mass examination service, in particular, an examination performed on a vehicle, such as a bus, provided with the X-ray digital photographing apparatus, the bus departs from an examining center, and the radiography is conducted, by travelling around to a plurality of companies and business offices without returning to the examining center.
However, with digital X-ray photographing apparatus, it is extremely inconvenient to employ the above-described unique number for image management as a post-processing step, as described above, because the X-ray image information of the subjects is digitized and managed. In a case of travelling around a large number of companies and subjecting their personnel to radiography, the number of the obtained photographed-data is very large, and consequently the technique of management using only the unique number corresponding to the data for each examinee causes labor to increase and the work also becomes complicated. This problem is not limited to radiography but also occurs in other photographing, for instance, photographing using visible light.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing apparatus which removes the inconvenience discussed-above, and a control method for such processing.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an information processing apparatus and control method capable of managing even a large number of items of photographed image information efficiently and simply.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an information processing apparatus and control method capable of managing photographed information obtained by a mass examination of a plurality of examinees in a plurality of different areas efficiently and simply.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus and control method capable of managing identification information which identifies the photographing of a plurality of examinees without overlap (duplication) of the identification information and recovering the identification information simply.
Other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings.
According to one example of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for photographing a plurality of subjects to be photographed (target images, or examinees) radiographically, which are divided into a plurality of groups, and storing the obtained X-ray digital image information. Group ID information (group identification information) indicative of a group to which the target image belongs, is first read and inputted from a group ID storage medium, in which the group ID information is recorded. A database corresponding to the group identification information is selected from a collection of databases managed on the basis of the groups, and target-image ID information (target-image identification information) is read (e.g., from an examinee identify card) and input for storage. Information (target image information) corresponding to the target-image ID information is searched and extracted from the selected database, the target image is photographed by using the extracted information relating to that examinee, and the obtained image information is stored and recorded together with the target-image information corresponding to the obtained image information.
It is discriminated whether the information read from the ID storage medium is group-ID information or examinee-image ID information. Based on the discriminated result, the database is selected or the target image information is extracted.
The target-image ID information is read and photographed from the target-image ID storage medium once or a plurality of times. Thereafter, the group-ID information is read again from the group-ID storage medium. Accordingly, it is possible to select a different database. In other words, it is possible to repeat the process of selecting the database, extracting currently-needed target-image information from the selected database, and when it is time to examine the next subject, selecting a different (or the same) database again.
In the managed database, data recorded in the target-image ID storage medium is interpreted, and data (identification information) indicating an interpreting method for extracting only the target-image ID information is also managed. This data is used when reading and extracting the target-image ID information from the target-image ID storage medium, after selecting the proper database. Since it is assumed that an employee card or the like is used as the target-image ID storage medium if obtaining the target-image information from each database and the format is different, depending on the company, the foregoing can correspond thereto. In this case, when an error occurs (in a case of improper information due to use of the wrong person""s employee card or the like) as a result of recognizing whether or not inputted information from the target-image ID storage medium is proper on the basis of the recognized information, the inputted information can be excluded as improper information.
If applying the above-mentioned construction to an X-ray digital photographing apparatus provided in an examining bus, before the bus departs from the examining center, a database for every group (scheduled company or business office, etc.) is stored in advance in the X-ray digital photographing apparatus. When arriving at a specified company, in order to select a database corresponding to the specified company, information regarding a database selecting card (group ID storage medium), which is prepared in the examining center, is read by a medium reading unit, and the database is selected. Thereafter, information from the examinee""s card (target-image ID storage medium) is read by the medium reading unit, and information corresponding to the examinee is extracted from the database. Based on the extracted target image information, the radiography for the examinee is executed, and the obtained X-ray image information is stored together with the target image information of the examinee.